Kent State's Shearer Named MAC Scholar Athletes
2/17/2006 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Shearer (Sr., 3.948, business, Minerva, Ohio) shot 65% from the field and averaged 21 points and 6.0 rebounds per game in leading Kent State to a pair of wins last week, during which she became just the seventh player in school history to score at least 1,600 points in her career. She tallied 20 points in a 68-55 win over Ball State on Wednesday and then scored 22 in Saturdays 68-58 victory at Northern Illinois. In the two games, Shearer was a combined 13-of-20 from the floor and also went 15-of-17 (88.2%) from the foul line during the week in which she was also named to the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District IV First Team for the third straight year. In addition, the leagues leading scorer has reached the 20-point mark in eight of the last nine games and 13 times this season.
Borrelli (Sr., 3.55, management, Mt. Pleasant, Mich.) ranked 11th nationally at 133 pounds, recorded a 10-2 major decision over Northern Illinois Chad Vandiver in the Chippewas 33-2 win on Friday night. He improved to a 19-6 overall and 3-0 in the MAC this season. He is also 8-2 in conference duals in his career at 133 pounds. Borrelli is the defending conference champ at 133.
The MAC Scholar Athlete of the Week honor is presented to a MAC male and female student-athlete who has a cumulative grade point average of 3.0 or better and performs well during that weeks competition. The winners are selected by a group of the conferences faculty athletic representatives.
Female Nominees:
Bowling Green: Ali Mann (basketball, forward, Jr., 3.39, accounting, Chelsea, Mich.) averaged 15.0 points, a team-high 8.5 rebounds and 3.5 assists as the Falcons won two more games last week. Mann had 12 points and eight rebounds, along with four assists, in BGSUs 66-58 win over Northern Illinois on Wednesday. She then scored a game-high 18 points, grabbed nine rebounds and had three more assists in the Falcons 72-60 road win against Ball State on Saturday. She had 1.0 blocked shots on the week, and was a perfect 8-for-8 from the free-throw line. Also last week, Mann was named to the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District Third Team. On the year, she is averaging a team-leading 15.0 points per game, along with 7.6 rebounds. In MAC games, Mann has a BG-best 15.5 points and 7.2 boards per contest. The Falcons have won 11-straight games, and BGSU is 20-2 overall and 11-0 in the league.
Buffalo: Jen Jezorski (track & field, mid-distance, Sr., 3.654, speech & hearing science, Elmira, N.Y.) set the school record in the mile with her second-place finish at the Sykes-Sabock Challenge Cup. Jezorski turned in a time of 4:50.20 to slice her personal-best mark by six seconds and break Christina Kecks 2003 record by eight-thenths of a second. Jezorski qualified for the ECAC Championships in the event and has earned qualifying marks in three individual events and two relays.
Central Michigan: Mattie Crawford (gymnastics, Sr., 3.15, sports studies, Plymouth, Minn.) won the vault at a dual meet with Eastern Michigan, posting a career-high tying 9.900. Her mark was the best in the Mid-American Conference this season in any event. Its the fifth time in Crawfords career she has scored a 9.900 on the vault.
Eastern Michigan: Rebecca Fuss (gymnastics, Jr., 3.70, psychology, Orlando, Fla.) posted a clutch score of 9.750 in the floor exercise to clinch Eastern Michigans 189.600 to 189.475 victory over pre-season conference favorite Central Michigan. Fuss was the last gymnast to compete in the floor event. In addition to her score on the floor, Fuss won the balance beam competition with a score of 9.725. Lastly, Fuss finished second in the all-around competition with a total score of 37.950.
Miami: Sarah Landau (track and field, pole vault, So., 3.46, communications, Geneva, Ill.) reset the Miami pole vault standard for the third consecutive week and moved into the top 10 nationally with her vault of 13-3 ¾ at the All-Ohio Championships at Findlay (Feb. 11). Landau, who has reset the school pole vault record three times this season, add 3 ¾ inches to her previous top vault of 13-0 and improved her NCAA provisional standing with her school-record vault at the Malcolm Athletic Center. Landaus height currently stands as the top pole vault in the Mid-American Conference and is 7 ˝ inches higher than the second-best height in the conference.
Northern Illinois: Ajahnae Hinley (track & field, sprinter, Sr., 3.21, accounting, Chicago, Ill.) had a weekend for the ages at the Iowa State Indoor Track and Field Classic, as she broke the school-record and won the 600-yard run (1:23.81), ran a leg of the school-record setting 4x400 relay (3:50.40) and added school records in the 200-meter dash (25.88) and 400-meter dash (57.21) to lead the Huskies. Hinley shattered her previous record in the 400-meter dash (57.84, 2004) and along with teammates April Lowery, Lorene Skipper and Angela Thomas, surpassed their previous school-best mark of 3:50.86, set earlier this season at the Carle/Health Alliance Classic. The Chicago, Ill., native also broke the previous 600-yard run mark of 1:29.50, set by Betsy Buenzow (1982) and the 200-meter dash mark of 25.93, set by Erica Smith in 2003.
Toledo: Ebba Stenback (track& field, distance, Sr., 3.244, international business, Norrkoping, Sweden) won the mile in a time of 4:59.58 to help Toledo take second place at the All-Ohio Meet at Findlay on Saturday. Toledo had 106 team points. Miami won the meet with 156 1/3 points. It is the highest-ever finish at the All Ohio for Toledo and a significant improvement over last years seventh-place finish.
Western Michigan: Carrie Moore (basketball, Jr., 3.7, journalism, Lathrup Village, Mich.) averaged a double-double in the Broncos two conference wins last week. Moor averaged 21.0 points, 10.0 rebounds, had nine assists and three steals. Moore shot 47 percent from the field (15-of-32) and missed one free throw (8-of-9) for a 89 free-throw percentage. Moore scored 19 points and had 11 boards in Western Michigans 70-60 triumph at Miami on Feb. 8. Moore then had 23 points and nine boards in a 86-42 victory over Buffalo on Feb. 11.
Male Nominees:
Bowling Green: Matt Lefeld (basketball, center, Jr., 3.96, purchasing & supply management, Coldwater, Ohio) averaged 9.5 points and 3.5 rebounds, in the Falcons two games last week. He had eight points and two rebounds in BGSUs 73-71 win over Eastern Michigan and scored 11 points on 4-of-5 shooting from the field, adding five rebounds, in the Falcons 72-64 loss at Toledo. The double-digit scoring effort was his ninth of the season. Lefeld is shooting 53.3% (32-of-60) from the field in MAC play, Also last week, he was named to the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District First Team, and is now eligible for Academic All-American honors. He arguably is one of the most-improved players in the MAC, after scoring a total of just 14 points last year. This season, Lefeld is averaging 8.3 points and 3.8 rebounds, and is tied for the team lead with 14 blocked shots.
Buffalo: Dan McKenna (track & field, distance, Jr., 3.097, media studies, Liverpool, N.Y.) finished third in the mile run at Penn States Sykes-Sabock Challenge Cup on Saturday. McKenna turned in a 4:11.43, just two seconds shy of his school record which he set on the same Penn State track two weeks before.
Eastern Michigan: Jeffrey Fischer (baseball, pitcher, So., 3.42, biology, Farmington, Mich.) pitched a complete game in Easter Michigans 3-2 loss on the road at No. 8 Tennessee. In the tough defeat, Fischer gave up only one earned run, allowed nine hits, two walks, and fanned five batters. After allowing two unearned runs in the second inning, Fischer shut Tennessee out for the next six innings, giving EMU a chance to upset their nationally ranked opponent.
Kent State: Aaron Miller (wrestling, Jr., 3.319, justice studies, Uniopolis, Ohio) went 2-0 in MAC duals with a 5-1 decision over Buffalos Mike Ragusa and a 10-5 decision over Ohios Ryan Knapp. Miller, who was ranked No. 1 at 174 pounds in the latest MAC Coaches Poll, improved to 28-5 on the year and a perfect 4-0 in MAC duals. He has won seven straight matches and leads the team in victories. Miller is also tied for the team lead in pins (6) and major decisions (8).
Toledo: Justin Ingram (basketball, guard, Jr., 3.061, communication, Lansing, Mich.) led the Rockets to a pair of victories over Kent State and Bowling Green by averaging 12.0 points, 2.5 rebounds, 2.0 steals and 2.0 assists per game while making all 12 of his free-throw attempts. He tied for the team scoring lead versus the Falcons with 15 points and made all eight of his free-throw attempts to help the Rockets seal the win.
Western Michigan: Joe Reitz (basketball, So., 3.77, finance, Fishers, Ind.) averaged 20.5 points and 7.5 rebounds to help pull the Broncos to within a half game Northern Illinois in the race for the MAC West championship. Reitz started the week with a team-high 10 points and six rebounds at Akron. He followed that up with perhaps the best game of his Bronco career Sunday afternoon. Reitz scored a career-high 31 points by hitting a career-high 10-of-12 field goals and career-high 11-of-13 free throws against Ohio, avenging an earlier 32-point defeat against the Bobcats. Reitz went 9-of-9 from the free throw line in the second half, including 6-of-6 in the final minute, and tied for game-high rebounding honors with nine. Earlier in the week Reitz was also named to the ESPN the Magazine Academic All-District 4 team and earned his was on to the Academic All-America ballot.
